Test Tube Meat to Become Reality

(EndPlay Staff Reports) - Are you ready to sink your teeth into a hamburger that was made in a science lab?

During the annual conference for the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Vancouver, Mark Post, a scientist at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, announced that he has developed pieces of tissue that will be able to be made into a hamburger.

The news release explained that by using stem cells from a cow, Post was able to develop skeletal muscle that is found in steaks and hamburgers. He is hoping to debut the first "test-tube" hamburger in October.

"We are going to provide a proof of concept, showing that out of stem cells you can produce a product that looks like and feels like and hopefully tastes like meat. Seeing and tasting is believing," the Daily Mail reported Post saying at the conference.

Post also explained that by creating meat through science, a 40 percent decrease in energy would occur – a figure that would make any environmentalist happy.

The cost to develop the meat is roughly $330,000. Post said that he is being backed by an anonymous donor.

Developing a hamburger wasn't the original plan, though. A pseudo-sausage was going to be the first attempt, but Post quickly abandoned that venture after concluding that with all of the fillers in sausage, it wasn't the most authentic meat product.

Patrick Brown, a biochemist at Stanford University, is tackling a meat alternative in a different way.

Also during the AAAS conference, Brown spoke about his devotion to creating meat and dairy substitutes using only plant based products.

He wishes to create an alternative for those devoted meat and cheese lovers who could never imagine giving up the two.

The Huffington Post reported Brown saying, "We can do more good by taking on the simple task of figuring out how to convert cheap, abundant sustainable plant materials into nutrient-dense, protein-rich foods that people deliberately choose to eat based on taste and value."

Although both Post and Brown are taking two different approaches, their goal is the same in helping solve the negative impact the world's meat consumption is having on the environment.

Meat consumption around the world is expected to increase 60 percent by 2050.